Aramark is warning state regulators that it will lay off 84 employees at the end of December if its custodial and housekeeping contract at Towson University is not renewed. The Philadelphia-based firm regularly issues such warnings as its contracts near an end. Aramark recently learned that its contract to provide food and retail services at Oriole Park at Camden Yards will not be renewed for next year. jamie.smith.hopkins@baltsun.com http://twitter.com/realestatewonk

Aramark warned state regulators that it will lay off about 200 dining-service workers in Baltimore as a result of a lost contract, the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation said Tuesday. The 202-job cut will come when Aramark's educational services arm shuts down its location at the Johns Hopkins University on June 30, the company said in its warning notice. Aramark, based in Philadelphia, could not immediately be reached for comment. When dining-service contracts change from one company to another, the new contractor often hires many of the workers who had been employed by the previous provider.

Aramark plans to lay off about 450 employees in April when the University of Maryland Medical Center starts handling its own food services and housekeeping, but the hospital said Tuesday that those workers will have the chance to keep their jobs. The employees would not take a cut in pay or benefits if they are hired by the hospital or its affiliate, University Specialty Hospital, said R. Keith Allen, UMMC's senior vice president of human resources. "We are in the process of interviewing all of those employees who would like to keep working here," Allen said in a statement.

Aramark will lay off 64 workers in Silver Spring in May when it stops managing the Kirkland Conference Center at the National Labor College, the company told state officials Tuesday. Aramark filed a notice with the state Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation. The company said it would stop providing management services as of May 21. Lorraine.mirabella@baltsun.com

Aramark will lay off 64 workers in Silver Spring in May when it stops managing the Kirkland Conference Center at the National Labor College, the company told state officials Tuesday. Aramark filed a notice with the state Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation. The company said it would stop providing management services as of May 21. Lorraine.mirabella@baltsun.com

Aramark warned state regulators that it will lay off about 200 dining-service workers in Baltimore as a result of a lost contract, the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation said Tuesday. The 202-job cut will come when Aramark's educational services arm shuts down its location at the Johns Hopkins University on June 30, the company said in its warning notice. Aramark, based in Philadelphia, could not immediately be reached for comment. When dining-service contracts change from one company to another, the new contractor often hires many of the workers who had been employed by the previous provider.

NEW YORK -- Aramark Corp., the food-service company that runs concessions at Oriole Park at Camden Yards and other sports venues, received a $5.8 billion takeover offer from a group led by its chairman and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. The group, which also includes JPMorgan Chase & Co., Thomas H. Lee Partners LP and Warburg Pincus LLC, bid $32 a share, Aramark said yesterday. That's 14 percent above the Philadelphia company's closing price Friday. The company's shares rose $5.79, or nearly 21 percent, to close at $33.90 on the New York Stock Exchange.

The Baltimore Wage Commission is investigating complaints that Aramark Sports and Entertainment Services has violated the city's first-in-the-nation living-wage law by underpaying workers assigned to the city convention center. Three employees of Aramark filed complaints with the commission late last week charging that they were paid only $7.15 an hour for work at the convention center, even though the living wage is $8.49 an hour. The three workers, who originally were hired to work for Aramark at Camden Yards, said they were called in for temporary assignments at the Convention Center but were not paid the required living wage.

Two contractors have warned state regulators that they will lay off a total of nearly 230 employees over the next few months. Northrop Grumman Corp., one of Maryland's largest employers, said Tuesday that 145 Elkridge-based employees will lose their jobs because the U.S. Postal Service contract they have been working on is ending. The layoffs will start April 26 and conclude at the end of August, said company spokesman David R. Apt. Separately, Philadelphia-based Aramark told the state that its 83 employees providing custodial and housekeeping services to Towson University will lose their jobs June 30 because its contract has not been renewed.

PHILADELPHIA -- Aramark Corp., the largest U.S.-based foodservice company, will be taken private after shareholders overwhelmingly approved a $6.3 billion buyout bid yesterday. It marked the second time that a group of investors led by chairman and chief executive Joseph Neubauer moved to take Aramark off the stock market. The first time, in 1984, was to thwart a "hostile takeover attempt that could have been the end of the company," Neubauer told a meeting of shareholders in Philadelphia.

Two contractors have warned state regulators that they will lay off a total of nearly 230 employees over the next few months. Northrop Grumman Corp., one of Maryland's largest employers, said Tuesday that 145 Elkridge-based employees will lose their jobs because the U.S. Postal Service contract they have been working on is ending. The layoffs will start April 26 and conclude at the end of August, said company spokesman David R. Apt. Separately, Philadelphia-based Aramark told the state that its 83 employees providing custodial and housekeeping services to Towson University will lose their jobs June 30 because its contract has not been renewed.

Aramark is warning state regulators that it will lay off 84 employees at the end of December if its custodial and housekeeping contract at Towson University is not renewed. The Philadelphia-based firm regularly issues such warnings as its contracts near an end. Aramark recently learned that its contract to provide food and retail services at Oriole Park at Camden Yards will not be renewed for next year. jamie.smith.hopkins@baltsun.com http://twitter.com/realestatewonk

A small city rises up for a day whenever the Baltimore Ravens play at home. Nearly 80,000 fans converge on M&T Bank Stadium, all of them hungry, pretty much all at the same time. Keeping this ravenous crowd well fed is an army of hawkers selling humble hot dogs in the stands. Toqued chefs setting bananas foster aflame in exclusive suites. Wired food-service bigwigs monitoring crowd data on their BlackBerries. Overnight cleanup crews mopping the kitchen floor. Not to mention cooks, who get started days ahead of time in kitchen space that looks like it could serve a good-sized restaurant, not a huge stadium.

Whoever replaces Aramark as the concessionaire at Oriole Park at Camden Yards — and the Orioles are keeping that announcement under their caps — they will have a tough act to follow. While the baseball team has had its ups and downs, the ballpark fare under Aramark's 19-year tenure has been consistently good and widely imitated. Concepts such as selling food on a promenade like Eutaw Street, having a former ballplayer such as Boog Powell cook barbecue at the park, and serving regional favorites like crab soup and coddies were mostly hatched at Camden Yards and have now popped up at ballparks around the country.

Aramark Corp. has been serving ballpark fare at Camden Yards since the stadium opened in 1992. But next year, the Baltimore Orioles will break their long-standing relationship with one of the country's largest food service operators and go with a new concessionaire. Last month, Aramark warned state regulators that it could lay off more than 600 employees if its food and retail service contract with the Orioles was not renewed. On Tuesday, Greg Bader, an Orioles spokesman, confirmed that the team would not renew Aramark's contract for next year and that the team was in talks with another vendor.

Aramark is warning state regulators that it will lay off 613 employees next month if its contract to sell food and merchandise at Oriole Park at Camden Yards is not renewed. The company, which provides services at a dozen ballparks in North America, issued a similar warning last October before its contract in Baltimore was extended for another year. It gave Oct. 13 as the potential layoff date this year, the state Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation said Tuesday. Orioles spokeswoman Monica Barlow said she can't comment on when the organization will make a decision.

Running with the bulls at Pamplona highlighted Brian Knoerlein's European summer. Running the aisles at Camden Yards, selling Cracker Jack or beer, is how he plans to pay for it.That's what brought the Middle River science teacher, and hundreds of other hopefuls to a job fair at Camden Yards yesterday.Aramark Corp. had hoped to hire about 400 people to work concessions, restaurants and other operations at the ballpark.The company is hiring more workers this year to staff concessions formerly operated by church and other nonprofit groups.

A small city rises up for a day whenever the Baltimore Ravens play at home. Nearly 80,000 fans converge on M&T Bank Stadium, all of them hungry, pretty much all at the same time. Keeping this ravenous crowd well fed is an army of hawkers selling humble hot dogs in the stands. Toqued chefs setting bananas foster aflame in exclusive suites. Wired food-service bigwigs monitoring crowd data on their BlackBerries. Overnight cleanup crews mopping the kitchen floor. Not to mention cooks, who get started days ahead of time in kitchen space that looks like it could serve a good-sized restaurant, not a huge stadium.

Aramark plans to lay off about 450 employees in April when the University of Maryland Medical Center starts handling its own food services and housekeeping, but the hospital said Tuesday that those workers will have the chance to keep their jobs. The employees would not take a cut in pay or benefits if they are hired by the hospital or its affiliate, University Specialty Hospital, said R. Keith Allen, UMMC's senior vice president of human resources. "We are in the process of interviewing all of those employees who would like to keep working here," Allen said in a statement.